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Biomedical Sciences faculty receives NIH funding to research enzymes
Resource Center (AIRC) to establish a traditional Cherokee garden at Camp Sevenstar, a 260-acre experiential outdoor campus with programming dedicated to the revitalization of Cherokee culture.
Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are a leading public health problem, contributing to poor mental and physical health, substance use and other health-harming behaviors. The goal of the Center for Integrative Research on Childhood Development (CIRCA) is to develop more effective prevention and intervention strategies to interrupt the cycle of generational trauma and toxic stress through research and training.
In 2016, CIRCA entered into phase 1 of their program which aimed to increase research infrastructure to support multidisciplinary studies on adversity and resilience, and to support a cadre of collaborative investigators to achieve independent funding through sustainable research cores.
In phase 1, CIRCA funded five research project leaders and eight pilot project leaders whose grant funding increased from no funding from the National Institutes of Health in the first year to $8.2 million in its fifth year.
Phase 2 began in 2022, a $9.5 million award over five years, and it will expand on the accomplishments of phase 1, growing and strengthening CIRCA, continuing to support researchers with mentoring, training and scientific resources to study the effects of ACEs on multiple biological and behavioral systems. Over the next five years CIRCA researchers will also work to identify more effective ways to prevent and treat the effects of ACEs on individuals, families and society.
OFFICE OF MEDICAL STUDENT RESEARCH
The Office of Medical Student Research was launched in early 2020 in order for OSU College of Osteopathic Medicine students to develop investigation skills through the pursuit of new discoveries under the direction of a faculty research mentor.
In the 2021-22 academic year, there were 559 student authorships on posters and publications with about 50 percent of OSUCOM at the Cherokee Nation students and roughly 25 to 30 percent of students at the Tulsa campus involved in research.
Fourth-year medical student Nicholas Sajjadi’s research article about internet searches related to COVID-19 and infertility in April 2021 was the highest read article in the Journal of Osteopathic Medicine last year and was picked up by multiple media outlets.
And in early 2022, OSU College of Osteopathic Medicine students took the two top spots at the Oklahoma Osteopathic Association’s Research Poster Competition.
Savannah Nicks, a fourth-year medical student, along with Dr. Ben Greiner, an OSU-COM alum and current resident at University of Texas Medical Branch, were awarded first place, and Sadie Schiffmacher, a first-year medical student at OSU-COM at the Cherokee Nation — along with co-authors Rachel Wilkins, a fellow first-year student, and second-year student Ashton Glover Gatewood — took second place.
Assistant Professor of Biochemistry Joshua Muia, Ph.D., is hoping his research into two tiny enzymes can help identify and possibly treat a rare blood disease as well as the most common form of heart disease.
Muia was awarded a five-year $1.67 million grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, part of the National Institutes of Health in 2021.
Muia’s research is focused on two enzymes in the ADAMTS family — ADAMTS13 and ADAMTS7.
The ADAMTS13 enzyme works to regulate how blood cells called platelets attach to blood vessels and control blood clotting.
“It’s a delicate balance of bleeding and clotting. We need clotting to stop a bleed, but we don’t want to form blood clots,” he said.
Whether through genetic mutations or an autoimmune response, a person’s ADAMTS13 can become dysfunctional and can cause serious health issues including the rare blood disease thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura, or TTP, where blood clots form in small arteries in the body.
Muia has already developed an ADAMTS13 test, or assay, that is compatible with not just human plasma, but plasma from any species.
“You can research similarities and differences between humans and other species in terms of the ADAMTS13 protein,” he said.
The other ADAMTS enzyme Muia will research with the grant funds is ADAMTS7, a lesser-researched enzyme in that family, that seems to have a strong link with coronary artery disease, the most common type of heart disease, he said, but there’s a lot that’s unknown about the enzyme.
This kind of in-depth and detailed work takes time and money, Muia said, so being awarded the grant is vital to his research.
“The grant means turning the ideas we have into a reality. What we discover can eventually help patients,” he said. “That’s the ultimate goal — how can our work help patients in the future.”
